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Race, Nation, Identity: Literatures of the World

  • Module code: EL4008
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 4
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

Why are our reading practices so dominated by British writers? What happens if you turn the world map upside down? This module introduces literatures written in places other than Great Britain and considers the links between literature and the formation of cultural, national and racial identities. We will also think about how literature can act as a mode of resistance to imperialist ideologies. In doing so, we will broaden our understanding of what constitutes 'English' literature.

The module begins with a series of lectures discussing relevant conceptual frameworks; you will be asked to consider how texts function within discursive and ideological contexts, largely through a postcolonial framework. Following this introduction, you will study consecutively three areas of geographical focus in detail, such as nineteenth-century American literature, Irish literature, Latin American writing, Caribbean literature, contemporary American fiction, African writing.

Aims

  • To investigate critically the formation of cultural, national and racial identities in various literary forms
  • To examine theoretically the representation of specific spaces, places and populations.
  • To reflect on the complex ways in which writers explore, produce, and resist particular identities and ideologies.
  • To enable you to produce critically-informed, incisive responses to texts that draw upon relevant conceptual frameworks

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

  • Critically understand the representation of cultural, national and racial identities
  • Critically understand the representation of places, spaces and populations
  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of key literary texts
  • Show a sophisticated understanding of relevant intellectual and theoretical contexts

Curriculum content

This module will begin with close studies of critical and theoretical frameworks relating to issues of cultural, racial and national identities. The module will then run in three sections and students will have the opportunity to study texts from three different world literatures. They will look closely at the cultural and historical contexts relevant to the study of world literatures, including race, colonialism, national identity, canonicity, and language.

Teaching and learning strategy

The module will be taught in a series of two-hour lecture workshops and one-hour seminars. These sessions are flexible so as to allow detailed exploration of both texts and critical debates.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Lecture Workshops 44
Scheduled learning and teaching Seminars 22
Guided independent study 244
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

Assessment for this module allows students to demonstrate their knowledge of the critical and theoretical approaches to the representation of places, spaces and populations, as well as demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of a number of literary texts through 3 pieces of assessment:

  • Close Reading 1
  • Close Reading 2
  • Essay

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Critically understand the representation of cultural, national and racial identities Assessed formatively by class discussion and presentations Assessed summatively by essays
Critically understand the representation of places, spaces and populations Assessed formatively by class discussion and presentations Assessed summatively by essays
Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of key literary texts Assessed formatively by class discussion and presentations Assessed summatively by essays
Show a sophisticated understanding of relevant intellectual and theoretical contexts Assessed formatively by class discussion and presentations Assessed summatively by essays

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Coursework 750-word Close Reading 25%
Coursework 750-word Close Reading 25%
Coursework 1500-word Essay 50%
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography recommended reading

Ashcroft, Bill, et al, The Empire Writes Back (London: Routledge, 1989)

Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature,vols. 1&2, 5th Revised edition (London: W. W. Norton & Co, 1998)

Brauner, David, ed. Contemporary American Fiction (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature, 2010)

Kristal, Efrain, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Latin American Novel(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005)

Lazarus, Neil, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004)

McLeod, John, Beginning Post-colonialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000)

Porter, Joy, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Quayson, Ato, and T. Olaniyan, African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory (London: Blackwell 2007)

Tillet, Rebecca, Contemporary Native American Literature (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007)

Williams, Patrick and Laura Chrisman, eds, Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory (Harlow: Longman, 1994).

Jurca, Catherine, White Diaspora: the suburb and the twentieth-century American novel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001)

Rushdie, Salman, Imaginary Homelands (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992)

Slotkin, R., Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier (New York: HarperPerenial, 1996).

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